The present invention relates to a tool free, easy-opening package for resilient insulation batts, such as glass fiber batts, and, in particular, to a tool free, easy-opening package for resilient insulation batts which can be opened by hand, without the use of tools, to gain access to the insulation batts.
Currently, resilient insulation batts, such as glass fiber insulation batts, are sold in packages which require the use of a knife or other similar tool to open the package and gain access to the batts. Typically, a plurality of batts, e.g. eight batts, are stacked one upon the other and compressed to a thickness of about xe2x85x9 their normal thickness or less. These batts are then: a) placed, in their compressed state, within a preformed tubular package which when the formation of the package is complete may be open at one end, open at both ends, or closed at both ends or b) wrapped, in their compressed state, within a sheet of packaging material which is formed into a tubular package with a longitudinal seam and open at one end, open at both ends, or closed at both ends. U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,383, issued Feb. 21, 1989, discloses a batt packaging machine and method of packaging batts wherein the batts are wrapped, in their compressed state, within a sheet of packaging material and the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,383 is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. When used, the closures provided at one or both ends of these packages are conventional gusset or pillow end closures.
The packaging materials used to form the preformed tubular packages or bags and to wrap the batts are typically polymeric film or paper materials. These materials are not easily torn by hand. For example, the polymeric films used to form these packages tend to elongate or stretch rather than tear when attempts are made to tear these materials by hand and when the materials do tear; the tears in these materials are normally erratic and not easy to make. Accordingly, these packages are normally opened by cutting open the packages with a knife or similar cutting tool.
The use of the conventional gusset or pillow end closures on these packages make such packages difficult to open at their ends due to the multiple layers of polymeric or paper packaging material forming the gusset or pillow end closures which must be cut to open the packages at their ends. Thus, these packages are typically opened, using a knife or similar cutting tool, by cutting through the packaging material and forming cuts in the material that extend for the greater portion of the length of the packages. With these cuts in the packages, the packages open up and are destroyed due to the expansion of the compressed resilient batts within the packages which expand to their normal thicknesses.
The need to open these packages by cutting the packaging material forming the packages causes several problems. Many of the insulation batts packaged within these packages are either provided with facings or are encapsulated within polymeric film envelopes or other similar materials. When the packages are cut open with a knife or similar cutting tool, these facings or encapsulating film envelopes are often cut in the process. In addition, by totally destroying the package in order to open the package, any unused batts from the package are loose.
Thus, there has been a need for a tool free, easy-opening package for resilient insulation batts that can be readily and easily opened by hand without the need to use a cutting tool and a package that can be opened in such a way that any unused batts in the package can be retained in the package until needed.
The insulation package of the present invention for containing a stack of resilient insulation batts, such as glass fiber batts, is formed from a sheet material, such as but not limited to, a polymeric film or paper material. While the sheet material can be in a preformed seamless tubular form, preferably, the sheet material is wrapped about and completely encircles the batts and has a seam securing edges of the sheet material together that extends longitudinally with respect to the batts, preferably, for at least the length of the batts. The formation of the longitudinal seam in the package creates a stress riser extending the length of the seam along which the package can be easily torn by hand. Where a preformed seamless tubular package is used, a longitudinally extending stress riser can be formed in the package that preferably extends for at least the length of the batts. The term stress riser, as used herein, refers to a narrow elongated area or line within the sheet that has been stressed, e.g. by creasing, scoring, perforating and/or heating or otherwise upsetting the fibers or cell structure of the sheet along the line, to make the sheet less resistant to tearing or separating along the line than prior to making the stress riser and to thereby facilitate the tearing or separation of the sheet along the line and make the sheet easily tearable or separable by hand along the line.
In the package of the present invention, the sheet material preferably has at least one tear line, preferably a perforated line, extending generally perpendicular to and crossing the stress riser for creating an opening in the package through the rupture of the sheet material by hand along the tear line and for permitting the package to be separated by hand along the stress riser from the opening created along the tear line to gain access to the batts within the package. While the package can be open at one or both ends, preferably, the ends of the package are closed and the tear line completely encircles the package to permit the package to be separated into two sections by rupturing the tear line along its entire length.
The insulation package of the present invention is formed about a stack of compressed, resilient insulation batts by creating a stack of resilient fibrous insulation batts that are stacked one upon another with the major surfaces of the batts in contact. The stack of batts is compressed in a direction generally parallel to the thicknesses of the batts and held in compression. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the package is formed from a sheet of packaging material having a width at least equal to and preferably greater than the length of the batts; a length greater than the transverse peripheral dimension of the stack of compressed batts; and a tear line, preferably a perforated line, spaced from the lateral edges of the sheet and extending parallel to a longitudinal centerline of the sheet. The sheet is wrapped completely about the stack of compressed batts and edges of the sheet extending generally perpendicular to the longitudinal centerline of the sheet are bonded or otherwise joined together while the batts are still compressed to form a seam with a stress riser extending the length of the batts and a tubular package about the compressed batts. The tear line in the sheet extends generally perpendicular to and crosses the seam and stress riser for creating an opening in the package through the rupture of the sheet by hand along the tear line and for permitting the stress riser to be separated by hand from the opening created along the tear line to gain access to the batts within the package. Alternatively, the package can be preformed with a longitudinal seam and stress riser and the compressed batts can be inserted into the preformed tubular package. Preferably, the ends of the package are then closed to completely enclose the stack of batts within the package.
In other embodiments of the invention, the compressed batts are inserted into a preformed seamless tubular package which may be open at both ends or closed at one end (a bag). After the compressed batts are inserted into the preformed seamless tubular package: if the tubular package is open at both ends, the package can be closed at one or both ends; and if the preformed seamless tubular package is closed at one end (a bag), the package can be closed at the second end. Preferably, the preformed tubular package is provided with a longitudinally extending stress riser and a tear line, e.g. a perforated line, in the sheet, extending generally perpendicular to and crossing the stress riser for creating an opening in the package through the rupture of the sheet by hand along the tear line and for permitting the stress riser to be separated by hand from the opening created along the tear line to gain access to the batts within the package.
Preferably, the sheet of packaging material used to form the wrapped package of the present invention has greater tear resistance when stressed in the direction of the longitudinal centerline of the sheet than in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal centerline of the sheet. By wrapping the sheet about the stack of compressed resilient insulation batts in a direction parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the sheet, the greater tear resistance of the sheet in this direction provides the finished package with better tear resistance to withstand the pressure and hoop stresses exerted on the package by the compressed, resilient; insulation batts within the package.